Bounty,

I might have a hurty elbow, but I am not one to be deterred.  At least where shopping is concerned anyway.  Last week I nipped out to do my monthly rounds of the local charity shops and actually managed to score pretty well this time,

woollens to felt and some shirts to chop up.

Although I do often peruse fabrics online, I still prefer to pillage my fabrics from old clothes.  Many reasons why, cost is one as recycling is much cheaper.  This horror story has also worried me from the perspective of using designer fabrics for commercial purposes like I (and indeed everyone on Etsy) do when making items to sell and patterns for publishing.  That particular situation has now been resolved and agreements reached, but it does raise the question that when using fabrics, whose design actually is the finished piece?  This is why I'm very aware how much the use of well known fabric ranges impacts on a design and can take over from the piece you are making.  

My aim is for the focal point to be the item I've made, not the materials it's made from.  Anyone else feel like that?